BARCELONA, Spain, August 31 /PRNewswire/ --
-- Your Heart: New Start initiative launched to provide heart patients and their carers with information about nutrition, fitness and medication adherence
Eight out of 10 heart patients in an international survey of more than 3,000 patients felt their heart disease diagnosis was a wake-up call to live a healthier lifestyle. In addition, more than 90 percent of surveyed heart patients who believe they were given a second chance in life said it was an opportunity to treat their body with more respect. Yet, nearly half of patients surveyed reported feeling there was little they could do to reduce their risk of heart attacks, and many did not adopt a heart healthy lifestyle to prevent further complications.(1) This survey was conducted among heart-event survivors in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and the United Kingdom.(1)
"It is worrying that even after suffering a heart attack or other cardiac event patients to not feel motivated to make simple modifications to ensure they are living a heart healthy lifestyle," says Helen Alderson, Chief Executive Officer of the World Heart Federation. "Through the Your Heart: New Start public education initiative, launched today at the European Society of Cardiology in Barcelona, we hope to help heart patients, their families and their healthcare professionals better understand how to improve their outcomes through education and better treatment adherence."
An estimated 17.2 million people worldwide died from cardiovascular disease in 2004, representing 29 percent of all global deaths, making it a significant public health concern.(2) Annually, 7.2 million people worldwide die from coronary heart disease.(3)
Despite the seriousness of suffering a heart attack or other cardiac event, many patients across the world do not follow their doctor's recommendations to adopt a heart healthy lifestyle and take medications as prescribed to reduce the chance of a second heart attack. Comprehensive, integrated information around managing heart health may play a critical role in helping patients make the most of their second chance and make life after a heart event easier and perhaps more fulfilling.
YOUR HEART: NEW START
Your Heart: New Start is aimed at helping healthcare providers and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), work together to better manage heart health.
The initiative is based upon the international survey results in heart patients, as well as separate global patient research conducted by Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. and Eli Lilly and Company, among ACS patients undergoing PCI.
Unique to Your Heart: New Start is the integration of the ACS patient insights gained from the separate research and the healthcare providers that support them.
This set of research findings highlight several areas critical to the recovery of patients who have experienced a heart event. These insights are the foundational pillars of the Your Heart: New Start initiative. Whilst the international survey was broad and interviews many types of heart patients, additional research into one of the largest categories of heart patients - those who had received a coronary stent - was conducted to more deeply explore what could be done to help patients.
The insights highlighted that in ACS patients undergoing PCI:
-- Patients report they do not get sufficient information about their
treatment that answers the many questions they have. This lack of
knowledge may undermine their recovery.
-- Having a heart event is a very emotional experience and those
emotions change along the patient journey from the event throughout
recovery. The Daiichi Sankyo and Lilly research discovered two
distinct time periods after their event during which patients are more
receptive to different types of heart healthy information.
-- These two time periods are:
-- just before patients leave the hospital, and
-- at their first follow-up visit with their doctor after leaving the
hospital
-- Information needs to be repeated and reinforced if patients are to
change engrained behaviour.
-- The support of family and friends is a positive influence on patients,
but many supporters do not know how they can help.
-- It is important for the healthcare provider to endorse the information
given to patients.
Your Heart: New Start components provide patients and their carers with practical information about improving nutrition, fitness, stress, and medication adherence. These resources have been designed to be given to heart patients after a major cardiac event at the times that they report being most open to specific educational messages.
Given the trauma associated with a heart event, ACS patients are often initially overwhelmed and find it difficult to absorb the information given to them whilst at the hospital. To maximise success, information can be staged to better match the emotional process many patients experience. Two distinct time periods were identified where ACS patients appear to be most receptive to specific types of information they need to improve their cardiac health after a heart event.
Patients are receptive to information about the importance of adhering to their medication during the first time period. During the second time period, patients are more receptive to absorbing information about lifestyle changes and disease management along with their medication information.
Given that repetition is key to effectively changing habits, (4) each subsequent step of Your Heart: New Start introduces new information in addition to reinforcing previously discussed information. Programme content was well received when tested with coronary stent patients and their healthcare providers around the world.
ADDITIONAL SURVEY FACTS
The survey of adults aged 40 and older who suffered from heart attack or other serious heart conditions, such as chronic chest pain related to a heart condition, revealed the emotional toll that a heart event can have, including feeling helpless and worried, with 48 percent worried about suffering from a heart attack in the future.(1)
Typically, heart patients understood that their second chance, in part, depended on following doctors' orders. The survey showed that those who were more faithful to their treatment regimens, including lifestyle changes and medication, were happier, healthier and more optimistic than those who faltered and failed to follow through. In the survey, more than eight out of 10 patients agreed that if they took their medication, their heart health would improve.(1) However, the survey showed that for many heart patients, knowing what to do is one thing and actually doing it is another.(1)
References
1. Your Heart: New Start. International Survey of Heart Patients, GfK Roper. August 2009.
2. World Health Organization. The Global Burden of Disease: 2004 Update. URL: http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_bur.... Accessed August 2009.
3. World Health Organization. The Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke - Deaths from Coronary Heart Disease. URL: http://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseas.... Accessed March 2009.
4) Klesges LM, Estabrooks PA, Dzewaltowski DA, Bull SS, Glasgow RE. Beginning with the application in mind: Designing and planning health behavior change interventions to enhance dissemination. Ann Behav Med. 2005;29 (2):66-75.
Notes to the Editor
About the Survey
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